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Translated excerpts of Basler Zeitung, the newspaper of Basel
Translated excerpts of Handelszeitung, the Swiss national trade
journal
2003
Inauguration of the new administrative and laboratory buildings,
celebration of anniversaries more»
From "Feuflibertal" to "Chemicon Valley" more»
2002
Entrepreneurial Award to Rolf Schäfer more»
2001
Innovation in Bubendorf more»
120 job positions for Bubendorf more»
Aggressive expansion at Amcis AG more»
2000
Solutia welcomes CarboGen and Amcis AG more»
1996
Extraordinary growth rate for Amcis AG more»
Step by step, Amcis AG is expanding its production facility
for active more»
pharmaceutical ingredients more»
1995
Pharmaceutical collaborations "made in Switzerland" more»
1994
Governor of Kansas in Bubendorf more»
1990
The "high-chem" R&D group in Bubendorf more»
1998
Research in Bubendorfmore»
Company News, November 2003
Inauguration of the new administrative and laboratory buildings,
celebration of anniversaries
On December 3, 2003, Amcis AG, CIS Pharma and Flint AG inaugurated
their new facilities. Flint AG is the builder and owner of the new
buildings with 62 new offices and 16 new laboratories for 100 employees
on 8000m2. Since breaking ground in November of 2001,
20'000 tons of concrete, 700 tons of steel, 2'000m2 of
glass, 2'000m2 of granite and 83 km of cables were used
to create these spectacular buildings. They reflect our philosophy
of accepting only the highest quality in our business. This has
been instrumental in the success of our companies: CIS Pharma celebrated
its 50th, Amcis AG its 20th and ISC USA, Inc. its 15th anniversary.
We celebrated this event with 400 invited guests - employees, business
and industry partners, politicians and friends.
» back to top
Press Release, Basler Zeitung, July 19, 2003, page 13
From "Feuflibertal" to "Chemicon Valley"
For almost 300 years agriculture and silk ribbon weaving were the
dominant industries of the "Feuflibertal" (Five Dollar Valley, the
piecework wage of a weaver for 1 meter of silk ribbon). It has only
been during the last two decades that the valley's industry has
changed. Bubendorf is the new location for the chemical and pharmaceutical
industries. Of the 1700 workers in Bubendorf 600 are part of the
pharmaceutical and chemical industries, consisting of
- Aeromatic Fielder AG - process engineering for the pharmaceutical
industry
- Amcis AG - cGMP manufacturing of active pharmaceutical ingredients
- Bachem AG - peptide manufacturing
- CIS Pharma - discoveries for the pharmaceutical industry
- Tillots AG - gastrointestinal therapies
"We call it Chemicon Valley" annotates Rolf Schäfer, CEO of CIS Pharma.
"The investment of the US$ 25 million for the new facilities of CIS
Pharma and Amcis AG is adding further significance to the Valley."
» back to top
Press Release, Basellandschaftliche Zeitung, page 14, December
7, 2002
Entrepreneurial Award to Rolf Schäfer
Rolf Schäfer and Amcis AG received the 2002 Entrepreneurial Award
for small/mid-sized companies. "Amcis AG is an outstanding example
on how market opportunities are identified early on and competitive
advantages are fostered", Jury President Marco Fischer said in his
laudation at the awards presentation to Rolf Schäfer.
Twenty years ago Rolf Schäfer co-founded Amcis AG, as a spin-off of
CIS Pharma, which was founded by his father.
"The staff has grown from 3 to 85 highly qualified employees since
the start of Amcis AG and will be expanded to 200 within three years.
Amcis AG established itself and became a center of excellence in the
USA and Europe for the development and manufacturing of active pharmaceutical
ingredients in quantities of up to two tons" says Rolf Schäfer. This
cGMP manufacturer has gained the respect from the FDA: no 483" reports
received since the start. Amcis AG has advanced to a preferred supplier
status with different multinational pharmaceutical companies.
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Basler Zeitung, October 20, 2001, page 22
Innovation in Bubendorf
Currently CIS Pharma is concentrating on the development of synthetic
bio-polymers. "There are numerous applications," says Dr. Rolf Schäfer,
CEO. Such polymers can act as "spare body parts" like artificial
inner-ocular lenses, replacement disks between vertebras and replacement
tendons among many others. There are also other applications for
these bio-polymers such as in textile, food and cosmetic industries.
We are looking forward to having this technology patent protected
in the first quarter of 2004.
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Basler Zeitung, June 20, 2001, page 19
120 job positions for Bubendorf
Currently Amcis AG is spending Swiss Francs 20 million for an additional
14 production lines which will triple its current capabilities of
producing active pharmaceutical ingredients (API's). According to
media reports Amcis AG and CarboGen, both part of the Pharmaceutical
Services Division of Solutia Inc. (USA), are expecting to surpass
the Swiss Francs 100 million in sales this year.
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Basler Zeitung, Mai 6, 2001, page 27
Aggressive expansion at Amcis AG
The initial business of Amcis AG was the production of active pharmaceutical
ingredients (API's) for R&D purposes. Today they manufacture in
large scale. In the year 1997, for the first time, the American
Food and Drug administration inspected the facilities of Amcis AG.
"The inspections were a great success" reports Dr. Rolf Schäfer,
CEO. As the first company inspected in Switzerland, Amcis AG did
not receive a deficiency report.
Investing an additional Swiss Francs 50 million, Amcis AG is going
to build new R&D and administrative facilities. This should lead
to an additional 100 jobs over the next
3 - 4 years.
» back to top
Sphere, May 2000
Solutia welcomes CarboGen and Amcis AG
In early 2000, Solutia expanded its skills in applied chemistry
to offer process development and manufacturing scale-up services
to the pharmaceutical industry. By acquiring two leading Swiss-based
companies, CarboGen Laboratories and Amcis AG, Solutia is able to
offer a range of services among the broadest available to the global
pharmaceutical industry. This package of services corresponds with
Solutia's ability to help these companies better serve their leading
U.S. customers and establishes a formidable competitor in a market
already growing at more than 12 percent each year.
» back to top
Basler Zeitung, November 2nd, 1996, page 19
Extraordinary growth rate for Amcis AG
In today's economic times an annual growth rate of 200 percent might
seem like an illusion. Amcis AG in Bubendorf is proving that it
is possible. The company is specializing in the production of active
pharmaceutical ingredients which it produces for its joint venture
partner, Alcon Laboratories.
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Basler Zeitung, May 15, 1996, page 24
Step by step, Amcis AG is expanding its production facility
for active pharmaceutical ingredients
In conjunction with its joint venture partner Alcon Laboratories,
Amcis AG built a state of the art production facility for ophthalmological
active pharmaceutical compounds at a cost of Swiss Francs 25 million.
This expansion will create an additional 10 jobs in its start-up
phase.
» back to top
Handelszeitung, April 20, 1995, page 34
Pharmaceutical collaborations "made in Switzerland"
When the collaboration between Alcon Laboratories and Amcis AG started
in 1978, only 10% of the manufacturing orders came from Alcon. Today
Amcis AG is producing almost exclusively for the Nestle subsidiary.
In 1985 Alcon started to develop and license its own active pharmaceutical
ingredients for ophthalmic use. Since then these compounds have
become more and more complex. The Swiss company Amcis AG has become
an exclusive production site for these active pharmaceutical ingredients.
» back to top
Basler Zeitung, October 14, 1994, page 21
Governor of Kansas in Bubendorf
The governor of the State of Kansas, Joan Finney, made a stop over
at the CIS Pharma in Bubendorf. The governor was presenting Dr.
Rolf Schäfer, CEO with the advantages of locating future production
facilities in the US State of Kansas.
Just a year ago, Amcis AG entered into a joint venture with the
US ophthalmology giant Alcon Laboratories, a wholly owned subsidiary
of Nestle. Amcis AG has already collaborated for the past 15 years
with Alcon in R&D and in manufacturing of active pharmaceutical
ingredients.
» back to top
Swiss Quality Journal, 1990
The "high-chem" R&D group in Bubendorf
CIS Pharma is run by Dr. Doris Schäfer, responsible for R&D, mainly
in the fields of technical, biological and pharmaceutical chemistry.
Around 60% of CIS activities center on our own developments, comprising
active ingredients for cosmetics on one hand and new active pharmaceutical
ingredients on the other. The latter field includes peptides such
as histamines and vaso-constrictors and involves synthesizing such
peptides and their derivatives in order to produce long-lasting
compounds with improved bio-availability. The other 40% of CIS Pharma
activities consists of contract business, covering new organic compounds
of particular interest to the ophthalmic world. They include lens
care treatments and the active ingredients for ophthalmic diseases.
Amcis AG, headed by Dr. H. Hitz, takes contracted R&D projects and
develops chemical process technologies (up-scaling), thereby taking
active pharmaceutical ingredients all the way through to full-scale
production. Amcis AG is manufacturing batches ranging from 100 grams
to 30 kilos for the pharmaceutical industry and also synthesizes
bulk peptides.
» back to top
Basler Zeitung, June 11, 1988, page 21
Research in Bubendorf
CIS Pharma, a company that performs research and development of
sophisticated chemical and pharmaceutical ingredients, moved into
their new state of the art facilities in Bubendorf.
The unconventional building design, with a foot print of 150 by
60 feet and distinct blue glass, has an innovative heating and cooling
system that is capable of saving up to 70% of primary energy.
The new facilities serve primarily for process development and up-scaling
of active pharmaceutical infredients (API's), 60% of which are in-house
inventions and developments, the remaining 40% are performed on
a contract basis for national and international pharmaceutical clients.
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